Multifamily Starts Up 13% in May After 20% Decline in April

A $200 million mixed-use high-rise in Oakland, Calif., leads six projects valued at $100 million or more that broke ground last month.

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Residential building in May registered an annual rate of $312.8 billion, essentially unchanged from the April amount, according to the latest Dodge Data & Analytics report. Multifamily housing, in particular, last month rebounded 13%, after declining 20% the month before.

At least partly responsible for the gains are six multifamily projects, each valued at $100 million or more, that broke ground in May, compared with four such projects in April. Leading the way was the $173 million multifamily portion of a $200 million mixed-use high-rise in Oakland, Calif., followed by two residential towers in Bethesda, Md., valued at $162 million, and the $155 million multifamily portion of a $190 million mixed-use complex in San Jose, Calif.

Top MSAs, Regions for May
The top five metropolitan areas by dollar amount of multifamily starts in May were New York City; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Miami; and Dallas–Fort Worth. This group was followed, at ranks 6 through 10, by Boston; Seattle; Orlando, Fla.; Los Angeles; and Atlanta.

Single-family housing in May fell 4% from the previous month, with the South Central down 8%, the West and South Atlantic each declining 6%, and the Midwest and Northeast each up 5%.

YTD and 12-Month Perspectives
Residential building year to date climbed 5% last month, with multifamily housing up 3% and single-family up 6%.

Also worth examining, notes Dodge, are the 12-month moving totals ending May 2018 versus those ending May 2017. On that basis, total construction starts are up 1%, with residential building climbing 3%, consisting of multifamily housing falling 6% and single-family rising 7%.

In other sectors, nonresidential building fell 4%, with commercial building down 9%, institutional building declining 3%, and manufacturing building up 15%.

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